irish44j
Well-known member
TL
R I have an extremely-detailed full built thread on this rig, in case people want to read about me actually doing the work, going on trips, and various other things – but I thought maybe I'd condense that down into more of a general overview post for people who don't want to read 6 years of my blabbering and sort through a thousand photos of random small things. (if you want that, here's the link: https://www.overlandbound.com/forum...raider-2010-sequoia-and-other-projects.47708/) Instead, this will just show what's been done, so anyone with a small rig like this (or others) can maybe get some ideas for their own builds – much as I've done by reading many other peoples' threads and photo posts. If you want more details on any specific thing you see here, feel free to post up here and ask about them (or you can go read the ultra-long build thread if you want to.) So here goes.
Just as brief background, I've never been much of a “truck” guy or a “camping/overlanding” guy. I've built a number of older sportscars/sporty cars – mostly from the 80s (Porsche 924S, several BMW e21/e30s, and some other stuff). I did have an XJ Cherokee back in about 2006 that I bought, fixed up, and then decided I hated driving it, hated the Renix engine management, and hated all the rust. I didn't really do anything with it, just refreshed/improved it and sold it. So building something expressly for off-road exploring, camping/overlanding was mostly a learning experience. Anyhow, got it in my head that I wanted an 80s rig, and love the boxy stuff. But I also do my builds on a tight budget, so it had to be cheap. Like <$1000 cheap, and with minimal rust. Otherwise, didn't care much about the running condition. So that ruled out most old Toyotas ($$$), or any of the Euro SUVs. I looked at Isuzu Trooper s for a while, but the resources parts availability seemed pretty slim. Then I cam across the Gen1 Montero, a poor-man's Land Rover to some degree. Nice ones were going up in value a bit, but still pretty cheap – but the Dodge Raider is the same truck – entirely, and it seems they were cheaper and easier to find in the country areas for cheap because....80s Dodge, right?
Anyhow, I picked this Raider up in North Carolina (Emerald Isle) for under $1k. No rust, and in ok condition cosmetically and interior. But the engine was out of the truck, sitting in the back, and all rusty from getting saltwater on it during a hurricane. Got it anyhow, knowing that the 6G72 engines can be found in a lot of Chrysler minivans in the junkyard. As it turns out, never had to do that since I found a second one (also in NC, Asheville this time) for just a few hundred bucks. It was rusty AF, interior garbage, bodywork junk, rear door ripped off – but it RAN (badly) and had a manual transmission – pretty rare for these. So I put these two together and made one. I'll note this was during COVID, so I had a lot of spare time to do things....
So this is my 1989 Dodge Raider, SWB (short wheelbase) 2-door. The 1989 was the only year that the Raider/Monty had a coil spring rear suspension in the 2-door (leaf spring for all earlier years) and also the only year they came with a V6 (all others were 4-cylinder in the US or diesel overseas, I think). Both the suspension and engine were in the 4-door Monteros though, so still a lot of parts available. This one also is the “offroad package” - which basically means it has a rear axle limited slip diff (LSD), headlight sprayers, and a “trucker seat base” that has its own suspension. 2 door Raider + Offroad Package + coil spring rear + V6 + Manual transmission all together makes this a fairly rare truck at this point, with so many having rusted away. Here are a few general photos of it.
Let's jump right into things. First, the engine bay, yep it's dirty
It's mostly a stock 6G72. I rebuilt it entirely with stock parts and a few minor aftermarket upgrades (injectors, PCV delete, upgraded plug wires, other uninteresting things). I refurbished the stock brass/copper radiator rather than buy aftermarket aluminum- these old brass radiators are really good for cooling IMO. Also did R132 conversion for the A/C system, which blows cold but occasionally needs a recharge. I have a big SPAL electric fan on the AC condenser that I can run manually when on the trail, for improved cooling combined with the stock crank-driven fan. But overall, it's a stock 6G72 engine that runs pretty well (other than an occasionally-sticking injector that I need to replace).
Drivetrain – as noted before, it has a 5-speed manual, which shifts like a truck from the 80s (looong throws, long shifter), and is occasionally a pain in the ass on certain tricky off-road obstacles, but I do love having three pedals.
Axles/Wheels – Rear has the factory LSD, and it's pretty tight and works well on the trails, and the front is stock, though I replaced the stock auto-lock hubs with Aisin manual hubs. I'll note that the V6 models of these have larger front and rear diffs than the 4-cylinder ones, so they're pretty beefy for a small truck like this. The hubs also have 1.5” Spidertrax spacers (IIRC), which I added a couple years ago to get a wider stance since these rigs are kinda tippy with weight up top and the short wheelbase.
It's on the factory “Pomegranite” 15s, painted bronze, with 31x10.5 Grabber A/Ts.
Chassis – it's largely unmodified. This truck was entirely rust-free and I did totally wire-wheel any minor surface rust and repainted it all with chassis paint back in 2019, which is holding up well now. If you haven't owned a Montero, they have THICK boxed frames. I measured and the frame steel on the Raider is about 50% thicker than the steel on my 2010 Sequoia, which weighs twice as much.... Anyhow, I've added a couple big skidplates that I built myself out of steel, covering the front end and under the transmission/transfer case. It has the factory gas tank skid, though I've beefed that up a bit after a rock dented the gas tank right through the skid. I plan to build a legit one this winter.
Yeah, they get some work...
Suspension – Upgraded with Old Man Emu torsion bars and rear springs, which provide a very mild lift (adjustable for the front, of course) and better cargo capacity vs. the stock stuff. Ride quality is good, with standard Bilstein 4600 / Yellow shocks. Stock sway bars with upgraded endlinks/bushings. I think the V6 Raider has bigger bars than other 2-door Montero/Raiders, btw.
IDK, suspension pics are dull, so here it is in action lol
Brakes – Stock rear drums (adjusted well, they work great). In front, I upgraded to the Gen2 Montero (mid-90s) dual-piston calipers and rotors to improve braking feel/power and reduce fade on long mountain roads. Very happy with them (stock braking system otherwise).
Steering – Recently installed the full Gen2 Montero stuff – steering box, pittman arm, and idler arm. Much tighter than my worn-out original box, and a bit overboosted due to using the Gen1 pump still (Gen 2 box uses a lower pressure pump), which is actually great offroad on rocky trails, since it damps out more of the steering wheel shock.
R I have an extremely-detailed full built thread on this rig, in case people want to read about me actually doing the work, going on trips, and various other things – but I thought maybe I'd condense that down into more of a general overview post for people who don't want to read 6 years of my blabbering and sort through a thousand photos of random small things. (if you want that, here's the link: https://www.overlandbound.com/forum...raider-2010-sequoia-and-other-projects.47708/) Instead, this will just show what's been done, so anyone with a small rig like this (or others) can maybe get some ideas for their own builds – much as I've done by reading many other peoples' threads and photo posts. If you want more details on any specific thing you see here, feel free to post up here and ask about them (or you can go read the ultra-long build thread if you want to.) So here goes.
Just as brief background, I've never been much of a “truck” guy or a “camping/overlanding” guy. I've built a number of older sportscars/sporty cars – mostly from the 80s (Porsche 924S, several BMW e21/e30s, and some other stuff). I did have an XJ Cherokee back in about 2006 that I bought, fixed up, and then decided I hated driving it, hated the Renix engine management, and hated all the rust. I didn't really do anything with it, just refreshed/improved it and sold it. So building something expressly for off-road exploring, camping/overlanding was mostly a learning experience. Anyhow, got it in my head that I wanted an 80s rig, and love the boxy stuff. But I also do my builds on a tight budget, so it had to be cheap. Like <$1000 cheap, and with minimal rust. Otherwise, didn't care much about the running condition. So that ruled out most old Toyotas ($$$), or any of the Euro SUVs. I looked at Isuzu Trooper s for a while, but the resources parts availability seemed pretty slim. Then I cam across the Gen1 Montero, a poor-man's Land Rover to some degree. Nice ones were going up in value a bit, but still pretty cheap – but the Dodge Raider is the same truck – entirely, and it seems they were cheaper and easier to find in the country areas for cheap because....80s Dodge, right?
Anyhow, I picked this Raider up in North Carolina (Emerald Isle) for under $1k. No rust, and in ok condition cosmetically and interior. But the engine was out of the truck, sitting in the back, and all rusty from getting saltwater on it during a hurricane. Got it anyhow, knowing that the 6G72 engines can be found in a lot of Chrysler minivans in the junkyard. As it turns out, never had to do that since I found a second one (also in NC, Asheville this time) for just a few hundred bucks. It was rusty AF, interior garbage, bodywork junk, rear door ripped off – but it RAN (badly) and had a manual transmission – pretty rare for these. So I put these two together and made one. I'll note this was during COVID, so I had a lot of spare time to do things....
So this is my 1989 Dodge Raider, SWB (short wheelbase) 2-door. The 1989 was the only year that the Raider/Monty had a coil spring rear suspension in the 2-door (leaf spring for all earlier years) and also the only year they came with a V6 (all others were 4-cylinder in the US or diesel overseas, I think). Both the suspension and engine were in the 4-door Monteros though, so still a lot of parts available. This one also is the “offroad package” - which basically means it has a rear axle limited slip diff (LSD), headlight sprayers, and a “trucker seat base” that has its own suspension. 2 door Raider + Offroad Package + coil spring rear + V6 + Manual transmission all together makes this a fairly rare truck at this point, with so many having rusted away. Here are a few general photos of it.
Let's jump right into things. First, the engine bay, yep it's dirty
It's mostly a stock 6G72. I rebuilt it entirely with stock parts and a few minor aftermarket upgrades (injectors, PCV delete, upgraded plug wires, other uninteresting things). I refurbished the stock brass/copper radiator rather than buy aftermarket aluminum- these old brass radiators are really good for cooling IMO. Also did R132 conversion for the A/C system, which blows cold but occasionally needs a recharge. I have a big SPAL electric fan on the AC condenser that I can run manually when on the trail, for improved cooling combined with the stock crank-driven fan. But overall, it's a stock 6G72 engine that runs pretty well (other than an occasionally-sticking injector that I need to replace).
Drivetrain – as noted before, it has a 5-speed manual, which shifts like a truck from the 80s (looong throws, long shifter), and is occasionally a pain in the ass on certain tricky off-road obstacles, but I do love having three pedals.
Axles/Wheels – Rear has the factory LSD, and it's pretty tight and works well on the trails, and the front is stock, though I replaced the stock auto-lock hubs with Aisin manual hubs. I'll note that the V6 models of these have larger front and rear diffs than the 4-cylinder ones, so they're pretty beefy for a small truck like this. The hubs also have 1.5” Spidertrax spacers (IIRC), which I added a couple years ago to get a wider stance since these rigs are kinda tippy with weight up top and the short wheelbase.
It's on the factory “Pomegranite” 15s, painted bronze, with 31x10.5 Grabber A/Ts.
Chassis – it's largely unmodified. This truck was entirely rust-free and I did totally wire-wheel any minor surface rust and repainted it all with chassis paint back in 2019, which is holding up well now. If you haven't owned a Montero, they have THICK boxed frames. I measured and the frame steel on the Raider is about 50% thicker than the steel on my 2010 Sequoia, which weighs twice as much.... Anyhow, I've added a couple big skidplates that I built myself out of steel, covering the front end and under the transmission/transfer case. It has the factory gas tank skid, though I've beefed that up a bit after a rock dented the gas tank right through the skid. I plan to build a legit one this winter.
Yeah, they get some work...
Suspension – Upgraded with Old Man Emu torsion bars and rear springs, which provide a very mild lift (adjustable for the front, of course) and better cargo capacity vs. the stock stuff. Ride quality is good, with standard Bilstein 4600 / Yellow shocks. Stock sway bars with upgraded endlinks/bushings. I think the V6 Raider has bigger bars than other 2-door Montero/Raiders, btw.
IDK, suspension pics are dull, so here it is in action lol
Brakes – Stock rear drums (adjusted well, they work great). In front, I upgraded to the Gen2 Montero (mid-90s) dual-piston calipers and rotors to improve braking feel/power and reduce fade on long mountain roads. Very happy with them (stock braking system otherwise).
Steering – Recently installed the full Gen2 Montero stuff – steering box, pittman arm, and idler arm. Much tighter than my worn-out original box, and a bit overboosted due to using the Gen1 pump still (Gen 2 box uses a lower pressure pump), which is actually great offroad on rocky trails, since it damps out more of the steering wheel shock.
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